I tried out Karrimor's Cougar 60/70 on a recent 2 day trip with one overnight stop in The Glyderau area of Snowdonia, North Wales.

There's one large main compartment, the main access for which is from the top but with additional access from the bottom. The lower part of this section can be separated off via a zip.

There are a varied selection of pockets - 3 good size bellows (side and front), one on the outside of the lid which also has an internal security pocket plus 2 external mesh pockets (handy for the requisite banana, water bottle and/or to stash litter). The lid itself does not extend to accommodate an extra load - this wasn't a problem for me on this trip.

There are a number of other pretty standard features such as a pole attachment point, hydration system compatibility, side and lower load compression straps.

The back is built around Karrimor's well-established, size adjustable system. This is very easy to adjust to suit your particular body length; once adjusted there's plenty of padding in the shoulder and 'rump' areas - so it's comfortable plus the ventilation to your back is very good. The back system certainly kept its shape with the load I was carrying and I thought that the weight was transferred well to the hip belt. The hip belt itself seems well designed - it's very well padded, wide and fits well although, whilst tightening it was very easy, loosening it was less so. The shoulder straps are also very substantially padded.

The fabric - so far unscathed - seems reasonably robust.

My only, relatively minor, gripe so far is the rain cover. This is stowed in the bottom of the pack - but is black. My personal preference is for something more brightly coloured to aid visibility.

Buying Advice:

Karrimor is a long established manufacturer of backpacks. The Cougar is well worthwhile considering as a well priced, good quality backpack with a proven back system.